New Delhi, April 21: The Cabinet will pass orders on a move to wind up the Calcutta-based Bharat Brakes and Valves Ltd (BBVL) later this week.

The move has been initiated as the government could not find any buyers for the ailing state-run company.

Earlier, the government had decided to disinvest up to 74 per cent in favour of a strategic partner.

A. F. Ferguson had been appointed as the adviser to the divestment. Although several initial expressions of interest (EoIs) were received, none stayed the course.

Fed up with the abortive attempts to sell off the heavy engineering company, the disinvestment ministry last week formally told the Cabinet Committee on Disinvestment that it was unable to sell it and transferred the company back to the heavy industry ministry.

The disinvestment ministry had at the same time referred back a host of other companies, including Praga Tools, Bharat Leather, Hindustan Cables and Scooter India Ltd.

In fact, the inability to sell these companies also forced the CCD to bring in a whole set of norms that will allow PSU employees to bid for their own companies and buy them out. Sources said the Cabinet note also allows for this option, provided BBVL employees came up with a credible revival plan and put up enough money on the table.

Bharat Brakes and Valves Ltd, a subsidiary of the Bharat Bhari Udyog Ltd, has a paid up capital of Rs 8.13 crore. The net worth of the company already stands at a negative Rs 28.94 crore. Its accumulated losses amount to Rs 36.67 crore.

The major activity of BBVL, whose works are located in Calcutta, is making vacuum brakes, slack adjusters for wagons and coaches and vacuum exhausters for locomotives. BBVL has around 400 employees.

Another BBUNL subsidiary, Burn Standard, has also been going through a similar churning process. The government has decided to put it up for sale and asked its employees to get ready to bid for it if they want to save the historic wagon-making company.